Anthony "White Tony" Johnson

He befriended Tony McKie, often called "Black Tony", as well as the Adetoro Brothers, who would later be famous for their shootout with police on the M6 in April 2000, leading to Olatunde Yakub Adertoro's eight back-to-back life sentences. All of them were members of the Cheetham Hill Gang. They gradually became full-time members of the Hillbillies.

The Noonan gang were tried twice for Johnson's murder. The first trial in 1992 collapsed, while the second in 1993 ended in acquittals. In 1999, Damian Noonan was shot while on the door at the Phoenix Club in the city.

At a New Year party in 1991, a gun-toting 22-year-old Johnson threatened some of Damian Noonan's successors on the door at The Haçienda. Johnson was already in trouble with members of the Noonan family because of a dispute over the division of the spoils from a £362,000 security van robbery at Mumps Bridge, Oldham, in November 1990.

Johnson was shot in the car park of the Penny Black pub, Winterford Road, Cheetham Hill, in February 1991. The pub, which was closed and torched shortly after the attack, was partly owned by Derek Noonan of the notorious Irish-Mancunian crime family. Desmond Noonan, brother of Domenyk, was tried and acquitted for the murder.

In February 1990, the Pepperhill Mob lost one and a half kilos of heroin from a contact the gang had in London. Two people carrying the heroin were arrested and the heroin was seized, which led to a drought of heroin in Manchester and left the Pepperhill Mob vulnerable. Johnson moved on this, which led to a Cheetham Hill-Moss Side gang war. Later, the Hillbillies gunned down Delroy Brown, the leader of the Pepperhill Mob.

In 1990, Johnson was spotted by police in a Kevlar vest with semi-automatic firearms. This was a major discovery by the police, as they previously had little knowledge of the weapons and equipment used by gangs in Manchester.

Johnson was involved in many other criminal activities, including a £362,000 security van robbery at Mumps Bridge, Oldham, in November 1990, which led to his feud with the Noonans. A month later, he robbed Bassett's sweet factory in Sheffield, with two other masked gunmen, netting around £78,000.

Johnson began as a lowly member of the gang, often committing robberies and gang member killings. His nickname, "White Tony", was a reference to his race, while in a predominantly African gang. He was involved in the killing of 26-year old rival gang member Anthony "Sketch" Gardner on Saturday, January 9, 1988. Gardner was a member of a local Moss Side-based gang. As Gardner drew up outside a shebeen on Saturday, January 9, 1988, Johnson stepped out of the shadows, pulled a sawed-off shotgun from under his coat, pressed it against Gardner’s chest and fired. It took Gardner about a minute to die. Hearing the shots and believing the police had arrived, customers poured out of the shebeen, throwing their drug stashes into the street. Police found more than £1,000-worth of abandoned heroin and cocaine.

Johnson left school at the age of 16 in 1984. He began work as a window cleaner and glazier, but that did not last long. His mother stated, "I knew he was into something shady because you don't claim dole and drive around in a flash car". By 1990, Johnson was driving a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, worth around £20,000.

The Cheetham Hillbillies operated in the Waterloo Estate in the 1980s and 1990s. The gang specialized in robberies, pushing drugs in clubs and violence. Johnson had been involved in the Cheetham Hill Gang for years prior to his death.

Anthony James "White Tony" Johnson (22 July 1968 – 22 February 1991) was an English criminal, one-time member of the Cheetham Hill Gang in Manchester. He was gunned down in 1991 in the car park of the Penny Black pub, Cheetham Hill. Desmond Noonan was tried and acquitted of the murder.

Johnson was brought up in a home mired in tragedy and family breakdown. His mother Susan was 15 when she gave birth to him. Neither she nor his biological father spent much time with him. Susan was the step-sister of Keith Bennett, one of the five known Moors Murders victims, who went missing in June 1964 at the age of 12 - Ian Brady and Myra Hindley admitted murdering him in 1986, but his body has never been found. Susan's father Jimmy Johnson was the husband of Keith Bennett's mother Winnie, and had been treated as a suspect over his step-son's disappearance for several years after his disappearance, even though at the same time local police also suspected that he may have been murdered by Brady and Hindley.